Wheel and rim organization



Nov. 5, 1946. c. L. EKSERGIAN 2,410,573

WHEEL AND RIM ORGANIZATION Filed June 6, i942 2O FE I 2a 19, 365 10 m i2 i6 I 14 I L. INVENTOR flamlasbEiisergmn/ ATTORNEY ,tiicsvs (GI. fill-63) 4 Claims.

The invention relates to a wheel body and rim organization and more particularly to such an organization adapted for the mounting of heavy duty pneumatic tires.

It is among the objects of the invention to provide a device of this class which facilitates the mounting and demountin'g oi the tire, which insures the locking of the tire to rim both in the inflated or deflated condition, and which provides for a strong connection of the wheel body and rim with a, minimum of weight consistent with the streh required.

To secure the easy mounting and demounting oi the tire, the rim seating the tire is preferably made in two sections. one beingfixed to the wheel body and including a rim base portion having a tire retaining flange at one margin thereof and having the other margin thereof overlapping and secured to a peripheral flange of a disc wheel body, and the other being'a rim flange section demountably telescoping the margin of the first section which is secured to the wheel. are provided to detachably clamp said second sec= tion in place.

To insure the locking of the tire on the rim base in both inflated and deflated condition, and

yet permit its easy mounting on the rim base,

, eter, at the bead seating-portion adjacent the Means inclined portion of the disc wheel Mdy adjacent its merger withthe generally axially extending peripheral flange and the flange itself, with the outboard margin or said fixed rim section and the securement of the nested overlapping portions of the wheel body and by two axially spaced annular lines of securement. One such line of securement may be a usual annular series of rivets interconnecting the axially extending flange and rim section and the other line of securement farther outboard is achieved by the clamping in place of the demountabie rim section'. To this end, the extreme outboard margin of the ed rim section is formed with a radially outer inclined seat and the demountable rim flange section is formed with a correspondingly inclined face engaging said seat. It may be iirmly clamped to this seat by means extending between the wheel body and the demountable rim flange section, and such clamping action provides an additional line of securement along the line where the inclined portions of the wheel body, and the two rim sections overlap. This double securernent insures adequate strength with less weight of metal in the wheel body periphery and the rim sections.

The clamping means may comprise an annuiar clamping ring of channel cross section, having one side wall of the channel seated against a radially extending peripheral portion of the disc wheel and its other side wall seated inboard flange, is slightly greater than the ln- 1 side diameter of the tire bead, so that as the tire is forced home on the rim, the inner bead will be forced up this inclined seat and strongly irictlonally interlocked with the rim. Similarly the demountable rim flange section is provided with an inwardly extending portion 0! approximately thewidth of a bead seat of the tire which telescopes over the less diameter outboard oi the first rim section and this portion is also -sndtherimisobtainedwithamlnimumoi against a shoulder on the demountable rim flange section. An annular series of bolts and nuts ex-' tending through the wheel body and clamping ring serves to securely clamp the parts together.

Other and further objects and advantages and the manner in which they are attained will be clarified by the following detailed description when read in connection with the drawing torming a part hereof.

In the draw 1:

l is an outboardelevational view of a friction bearings indicated at II and II. The weight by providinganested relation between the 6B hub and bearings are secured in place by the 3 usual axle nut l1 and the hub is closed at its outer end by the hub cap I8;

A large diameter brake drum I9 disposed closely adjacent the rim has its head secured to the inboard side of the hub flange l2 by the same series of bolts l l securing the wheel body in place.

The wheel organization so far described is conventional and is merely one form of such organization out of many with which the main features of the invention now to be described in detail may be associated.

To add strength to the wheel body and to bring the tread in the desired inboard position the wheel body it! outwardly of its central boltedon portion is deeply dished at and at its periphery this deeply dished portion merges with a generally radially extending portion 2i, which in turn merges through a rounded or inclined portion 22 into the generally axially inwardly 8 tending rim seating flange 23.

To facilitate the mounting of the heavy duty pneumatic tires adapted to be used with the invention, the rim is made in two continuous annular sections, a fixed section 2t and a demountabl section 25. The fixed section comprises a generally axially extending rim base portion 26 terminating at its inboard end in a the retainin flange 21 and having itsoutboard end nesting with the rounded or inclined portion 22 of the wheel body and its flange 23 and secured thereto.

The outboard portion of base 28 up to about the point 28 is of slightly less outside diameter than the inside diameter of the tire bead of a I tire to be associated therewith. Inboard from the gradually increasing diameter until the inner bead seats against the inboard flange. In this position, by reason of the practically inextensibility of the tire bead,.the bead will, by reason of "the slightly larger outside diameter of the rim base than the inside diameter of the tire bead, be flrmly frictionally locked to the tire base, so thatit will rotate therewith, even when the tire becomes deflated.

To secure the tire in place and to additionally frictionally interlock it with the rim, thedemountable rim section 25 is provided with an outboard tire retaining flange 28 and a tapered inward extension in freely telescoping over the outboard end of the rim base 26. This tapered inward extension is of approximately the width of the tire bead to be associated therewith and has a tapered outer diameter, like the tapered outer diameter adjacent the flange 21 of the rim base 26, slightly greater than the inner diameter of the tire bead, so that, when the demountabie 4 line of securement may comprise a usual annular series of rivets, as 3|, these rivets connecting the generally axially extending flange 23 to the rim section 24. e

For the. additional line of securement, the improved construction employs the action of the clamping means for holding the demountable rim flange section 25 in place.

As shown in Fig. 2, the extreme outboard edge of the rim base 26 overlaps in nested relation the rounded or inclined portion 22 of the wheel body and radially outwardly of this region, it is pro-' vided with an inclined seat 32 adapted to co-act with a correspondingly inclined seat 33 on a short radial projection 34 of the demountable section 25.

To clamp the demountable rim flange section 25 in place, as shown in Fig. 2, clamping means is provided extending between the wheel body and said section 25, which acts to securely clamp the outboard margin of the rim base portion 25 to the wheel body approximately along the line of said interengaging inclined portions, thus providing the second line of securement additional to that provided by the rivets 3|.

The clamping means may compriw an annular series of bolts, as 35, extending axially through the radially extending portion 2| of the wheel body closely adjacent to the rounded or inclined portion 22 thereof. In fact, the heads 38 of the.

bolts are deformed to provide portions backing up the rounded portion 22 (if the wheel body, as clearly appears in Fig. 2.

The bolts 35 pass through the base of a hollow or channel section clamping ring 31, having one side seated against the radial portion 2! of the wheel body and the other side, against a shoulder formed by the short inward extension 36 on the demountable rim flange section 25. Nuts 38 as- 'sociated with the bolts 35 bear against the outboard face of the clamping ring and when tightened, in addition to locking the tire in place on the rim, operate to clamp the overlapping inclined parts of wheel body Ill and rim section 24 securely together in a region outboard of the riveted connection. Thus, the clamping means for securing the demountable rim section has the two functions of holding the tire in place on .the rim and forming a. strong connection between the wheel body and rim.

While a specific embodiment of the invention has been described, it will be understood that the main features may be produceable in other specific embodiments which would readily occur to one skilled in the art, and it is desired to cover such in the following claims.

What is claimed is: 1. A wheel and rim organization for wheels equipped with heavy duty pneumatic tires comprising a. disc wheel body having a peripheral 00 axially extending rim seating flange. a continuous annular rim section comprising a base and a tire retaining flange at one margin of the base, the other margin of said base being turned radially inwardly and seating in nested overlapping relation with said axially extending rim seating flange and the adjacent radially extending wheel body portion and being secured thereto in the overlap by an annular series of circumferentially spaced securing means, the extreme margin of said rim base beyond said securing means having' a smooth inclined seat, a continuous demountable tire retaining rim flange section hav- 1 ing amating inclined seat engaging the inclined seat on the first-named rim section, and clamping means-ens the wheei body and the demountable rim flange section so as to cause said inclined seat on the demountable section to ride up on the correspondingly inclined seat on the first-named section and thereby tightly clamp, with a large radial component of force, the margin of the first-named section carrying said inclined seat to the wheel body, and so providing additional means, axially spaced from said annular series of securing means, for securing the rim to the wheel body.

2. A wheeland rim organization for wheels equipped with heavy duty pneumatic tires, comprising a disc wheel body having a radially extending-portion adjacent its periphery terminating in an axially inwardly extending rim seating flange, a rim section including an inboard tire retaining flange and a base having one. margin thereof seated on said flange and secured thereto, said margin having a radially outer inclined seat, a demountable tire retaining rim flange section having a radially inwardly projecting portion with an inclined seat resting on said firstnamed inclined seat, and clamping means including a clamping ring having in-turned margins engaging respectively the outboard faces of the radially extending portion of said wheel body and the demountable rim section, and an annulat-series of spaced clamping bolts between said wheel body and said ring for forcibly clamping the demountable rim section in place and at the same time clamping the first-named rim section firmly into engagement with the wheel body flange, thereby serving as part at least of the securing means between wheel body and rim.

3. A wheel and rim organization comprising a disc wheel body having a generally radially extending portion merging through an inclined portion into an axially inwardly extending peripheral flange, a fixed rim section having the radially inner face of its axially outer margin nesting with said inclined and flange portions of the wheel body, the radially outer face of said margin being provided with a smooth inclined seat, a demountable rim flange section having an inclined face arranged to engage said inclined seat and means for clamping said demountable rim section in place and cause its inclined face to ride up its cooperating inclined seat and clamp toether, with a large radial component of force,

the nesting inclined portions of said wheel body and the axially outer portion of said fixed rim section, said clamping means comprising abolt having a head with a portion thereof backing up the inclined portion of the wheel body, a clamping element spaced from the wheel body and rim in its intermediate portion, and at its margins engaging the radially extending portion of the wheel body and the demountable rim flange section, respectively, said bolt extending through the intermediate portion of said clamping member and a nut screwed onto the bolt and engaging the axially outer face of the clamping member, whereby the tightening of said. nut clamps the parts of the rim and wheel body together in their internested relation.

4. A wheel and rim organization comprising a wheel body having at its periphery a rim securing seat including an axially extending portion merging at its axially outer margin into a curved portion, a fixed rim section having its outer margin formed to nest with the axially extending and curved portions of said rim securing seat, said rim section having its said axially outer margin formed with a radially outer smooth inolined seat, a demountable rim section having a radially inner inclined seat mating the inclined seat on said fixed rim section, and clamping means securing said rim sections to each other and to the rim securing seat of said wheel body, said clamping means having parts engaging the wheel body and the demountable rim section and acting to force said demountable section axially toward the fixed section and cause its inclined seat to ride u the smooth mating inclined seat of said fixed section and thereby exert strong radial components of force effective to strongly clamp together the nested portions of the.fixed rim section and the rim securing seat of the wheel body.

CAROLUS L. EKSERGIAN. 

